Jane Fonda once said she would only play in movies that had relevance, and with this one she does herself proud.
Landed as a film that concerns itself with the aging population in Europe, it is often paralleled with the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. But that British film is set on aging with courtesy (strangers getting on with each other) this French one focuses on aging with love.
A set of old friends become aware of the fact that if your health leaves you, one is left in an institution where the last days of your life feel like a school camp. They decide, spontaneously, in the spirit of their 60's rebel years, to beat the system, and live together, taking care of each other. A boy hired to walk the dogs, turns out to be an ethnologist, and he starts observing them, in order to determine 'how Europe deals with its elderly'.
Every one of the five friends has longings and flaws, and the movie keeps from judging them which is quite beautiful. For example, one is a womanizer, in his last years resorting to the care of prostitutes, which is nearly his undoing, but never is his behavior portrayed as evil, all human flaws are first of all human.
Acting always shows tension between vanity and shamelessness. These five actors have reached an age in which the vanity has changed in to its meaning: vain. All five give a depth and humor and realism to each role that astounds. (Maybe Fonda is the only one that demanded wardrobe approval, and is sometimes dressed as a twenty year old.) A good film has three things: a message, a good story and great acting. This one scores high on those three points: the message, so profound and so topical, is never lampooned or annoying. The story is well crafted and keeps the right balance between humor and drama, often using two at the same time. (An inundation is both comical and tragic.) And as mentioned before, the acting is great: no one is trying to be an Actor, or reaching for an Award, I assume the must love their characters after the filming.
Please, see this movie, as it makes a profound point on the future of us all, how to live, how to take care of our last years. And thank the actors for being old, not trying to be young, but old, old.
Landed as a film that concerns itself with the aging population in Europe, it is often paralleled with the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. But that British film is set on aging with courtesy (strangers getting on with each other) this French one focuses on aging with love.
A set of old friends become aware of the fact that if your health leaves you, one is left in an institution where the last days of your life feel like a school camp. They decide, spontaneously, in the spirit of their 60's rebel years, to beat the system, and live together, taking care of each other. A boy hired to walk the dogs, turns out to be an ethnologist, and he starts observing them, in order to determine 'how Europe deals with its elderly'.
Every one of the five friends has longings and flaws, and the movie keeps from judging them which is quite beautiful. For example, one is a womanizer, in his last years resorting to the care of prostitutes, which is nearly his undoing, but never is his behavior portrayed as evil, all human flaws are first of all human.
Acting always shows tension between vanity and shamelessness. These five actors have reached an age in which the vanity has changed in to its meaning: vain. All five give a depth and humor and realism to each role that astounds. (Maybe Fonda is the only one that demanded wardrobe approval, and is sometimes dressed as a twenty year old.) A good film has three things: a message, a good story and great acting. This one scores high on those three points: the message, so profound and so topical, is never lampooned or annoying. The story is well crafted and keeps the right balance between humor and drama, often using two at the same time. (An inundation is both comical and tragic.) And as mentioned before, the acting is great: no one is trying to be an Actor, or reaching for an Award, I assume the must love their characters after the filming.
Please, see this movie, as it makes a profound point on the future of us all, how to live, how to take care of our last years. And thank the actors for being old, not trying to be young, but old, old.